Hidden Magic

Chapter 2

Jamaila was walking along the sidewalk, her hand wrapped in some cloth, when she was stopped by a kind-looking elderly lady.

"Miss are you okay?" asked the lady.

"Fine thank you," answered Jamaila.

"Well at least let me take a look at your hand?" asked the lady.

"Thanks," Jamaila said, smiling gratefully.

The lady led her to a nearby bench and motioned for Jamaila to unwrap her bleeding knuckles. "What's your name?"

"My name's Amanda. What about yours, miss?"

"My name is Jamaila-Ashley, but call me Jamaila."

"Well, you definitely haven't broken anything, but it still needs to be cleaned up. You will have to come to my house and I'll bandage it up for you," Amanda offered.

Sighing to herself, Jamaila got up and followed Amanda. They came to stop outside a small house that had been painted dirty green; Amanda unlocked the door and went in, Jamaila followed cautiously.

She walked into the living room and saw pictures of Amanda's family on one side. Sighing to herself, she thought, I wish my family was so close. The other side was taken up with three tall bookcases.

Jamaila wandered over to one of the bookcase, looking at the books. She noticed that they were all jumbled together, some were fiction and others were reference books. One of the books caught Jamaila's eye: Beasts, Monsters and Other Creatures. Intrigued, she picked it up and began to browse through it.

"Well, I'm glad I'm not the only one into that kind of stuff," commented Amanda as she walking back into the room.

"This book... where did you get it?" asked Jamaila curiously.

"W.H Smiths," answered Amanda, setting the little medi-kit onto the coffee table.

"Who's that?" Jamaila asked, furrowing her brow.

"It's not a who, it's a bookshop," Amanda said, laughing. "Now let me clean your hand up."

Jamaila sat down, placed the book at her side and stretched out her left hand. Amanda started cleaning it out with antiseptic when Jamaila asked, "No offence, but why would a nice lady like you have a book like this?" she enquired.

Amanda laughed. "That is because I'm interested in what beasts are real, like the werewolf, and what is just fantasy," explained Amanda, dabbing Jamaila's knuckles with the antiseptic soaked cotton wool.

"Ouch... but how do you know werewolves are real?" asked Jamaila suspiciously, hiding as wince as the antiseptic stung.

"Well, I'm not sure. It is something that I have always known. There you go all done," Amanda said, sticking the plaster down.

Amanda packed her things away and walked out the living room. Jamaila noticed some yellow pieces of paper sticking out of the drawers. Going against her common sense which told her not to pry she got to her feet and she walked over to open the drawer. Inside the drawer was a copy of the Daily Prophet. Startled, Jamaila nearly dropped the newspaper. The Daily Prophet was a Wizard's newspaper! That meant that Amanda was a witch! She tensed up, wondering where Amanda could have possibly gone. She heard some dishes rattle in the kitchen. Quickly, she looked back to the newspaper and read the first article that her eyes lay upon.

Last night's attack has confirmed that You-Know-Who is indeed dead and Harry Potter was the one to defeat him, again.

All through the night, celebrations are taking place. World wide, people are raising their glasses to Harry Potter, The-Boy-Who-Lived, again.

After You-Know-Who died, a majority of his Death Eaters were surrounded and many will be put on trial these following months.

"So," said a voice suddenly. Jamaila looked up, half startled, half fearful. "Not only do you enjoy my collection of books, but you also like snooping around?" asked Amanda in an irritable voice.

"I'm sorry. It was just sticking out. I was just curious I meant no harm," replied Jamaila shakily, shoving the newspaper back into the drawer. "Honest..."

"Ever heard the saying 'curiosity killed the cat'?" Amanda enquired in a dangerous voice. Gone was the friendly elderly lady. In her place was a witch.

Jamaila felt a wave of apprehension. Fumbling around for words, she finally spluttered out the first words that came to her mind. "No, I haven't," she said in a quaking voice. "What are you doing with this?"

"I'M ASKING THE QUESTIONS," shouted Amanda angrily, suddenly turning into a very threatening figure.

All at once, Jamaila panicked. Grabbing her rucksack, she ran to the front door, pulled it open and ran down the street.

She ran flat out for what seemed like ages, before realising she wasn't on any kind of street, but in fact, she was halfway into the forest. Jamaila suddenly felt her own exhaustion and she leaned against a tree.

"Great, just bloodly great," Jamaila gasped, sitting down against a tree.

Setting her rucksack down she opened it to get a bag of crisps, which were supposedly at the bottom of her bag. She dug to the bottom of the bag, but she couldn't find them. Great now I'm lost and hungry. Can this get any worse? Jamaila thought angrily.

Deciding it was best to keep moving, Jamaila picked up her closed rucksack and began to walk towards what she hoped was east.

***

Jamaila had been walking for over two hours when she decided to take a rest. Nighttime had come and the forest seemed to be alive with noise. She sat down next to an oak tree. She was tired, hungry, thirsty, and her feet ached. "Why me?" she asked the rustling air, but there was no reply. Biting her lip angrily, she told herself, I will not cry. Oh well, I might as well try to have a nap, thought Jamaila, placing her rucksack behind her head, to use it as a pillow. Jamaila fell asleep almost instantly, her worries and her empty stomach forgotten.

There was a slight breeze blowing against Jamaila's left cheek. She tried to roll over, but she felt something heavy on her chest. There was a very stinky, vaguely doglike smell in the air, and she could hear a low growling sound that was coming from somewhere. Was it a dream? Her eyes snapped open to see a huge grey and white wolf standing over her, its teeth bared. No dream, she thought shakily. No, not a dream at all...

"N-nice d-d-doggy," whispered Jamaila. Her body felt stiff and immobile, but her mind was telling her one thing. RUN!!

She attempted to throw the wolf off, but it wasn't a wise move. The movement made the wolf jump and in an attempt to subdue its prey, it sank its big, yellow teeth into Jamaila's left shoulder. Surprised, she looked down. There was a dark red patch that was spreading on her clothes, and she could feel the dampness trickling down her chest. Other than that, she felt not pain - just shock. The wolf pulled back, her blood staining its muzzle. Why me? Jamaila wailed to herself. With a burst of adrenaline, she managed to push it off her chest and run.

***

Jamaila had been half walking; half running for over three hours before realising that the sun was coming up. Oh thank Merlin, it's nearly morning, sighed Jamaila slumping against a tree. She had managed to put a piece of cloth into her shoulder to slow the bleeding down. Her shirt, however, was in a severely bad state. It could no longer be called a shirt. It was more like a piece of sewed together cloth that just covered what needed to be covered.

Now she was tired, hungry, thirsty, aching. She was certain that she had lost enough blood to earn her a bed in any hospital. Raising herself from the tree that she had been resting against, she carried on walking. Jamaila hadn't been walking very long when she noticed that the trees were starting to thin out. Smiling, she told herself that there wasn't a long way to go.

This inspiration fired her up. Picking up her pace, she started running through the thinning trees. After what seemed like a long walk, the trees came to an abrupt end and lead out to a street. Grinning to herself, she stepped out the trees and into the sunshine.

Jamaila ran out onto the quiet Hogsmeade road. The moment she approached the main street, she saw shops on either side. Slowing down her pace, she proceeded to admire every shop. She had been told what Hogsmeade had looked like by her sister. But to actually be here is brilliant, thought Jamaila happily.

She carried on walking a little further when her eyes went black. Growling in frustration, she used a post to steady herself. With a single shake of her head, her vision cleared up again, and she carried on walking.

The main Hogsmeade road had ended, and before Jamaila was a grey gravel path. The yellow brick road, Jamaila thought cheerfully, recalling one of her favourite childhood stories. Carefully, she stepped onto the path. As she approached the end of the path, she caught her first glimpse of the magnificent turrets and the shadowy towers, which were all part of the giant castle that was Hogwarts. Falling to her knees she managed a whispered 'Wow' before she passed out from exhaustion, hunger, and her extreme blood loss. There was only so much a girl could take in a day.